US Videogame Sales Have Biggest Drop In 9 Years

alphadogg writes "The recession appears to have finally caught up with the video game market. Sales of video game hardware and software were down by around one-third in June compared to the same month last year. After initially showing positive growth as the US slid into recession, the latest figures mark the fourth month of declines and the largest year-on-year decline in almost 9 years. 'The first half of the year has been tough largely due to comparisons against a stellar first half performance last year, but still, this level of decline is certainly going to cause some pain and reflection in the industry,' said Anita Frazier, a games analyst with NPD Group. She added, 'The size of the decline could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary spending until a big event (must-have new title, hardware price cut) compels them to spend.' The entire video game market in the US was worth $1.2 billion in June, down 31 percent from the same period last year, according to NPD Group."

Games are obviously too cheap

[RobVB]

How long before they raise prices to $70-80 and up? I mean, it's obviously the best, no, the only way to make more money. Oh yes. The only way indeed.

Re:It's "CUE" you dumbfuck

[XenoPhage]

Stop trying so hard. The word with the obvious spelling is the right choice.

captcha: souped

Sorry to offend your sensibilities. I blame way too much network tuning and programming.

Re:Going back to old games

[lxs]

Diablo 2 ... Baldur's Gate 2 ... Diablo 3 ... the new Monkey Island

Ahh back to the golden age of gaming where every game wasn't a sequel or a remake of an older game.

Re:Surprisingly Level Headed Analysis

[eln]

Movie and music piracy CAUSED the recession! Video game piracy is now contributing, and soon the entire economy will collapse and we'll all be reduced to cannibalism to survive and it's all YOUR fault, you filthy pirate! This is precisely why Congress needs to pass strong anti-piracy legislation, to include death as a punishment for severe cases and the chopping off of thumbs for less severe (5 or fewer minutes of copyrighted material stolen) cases.

Sure, you might not consider piracy to be that big of a deal, but you'll change your tune when you're sitting around the burnt out husk of your home surrounded by a post-apocalyptic hellscape, stomach rumbling like crazy because you finished off the last of Aunt Sally 3 days ago and the rest of the family was eaten by a roving band of zombie werewolves. Maybe then you'll recognize the error of your ways...but I doubt it.

Re:It's "CUE" you dumbfuck

[geminidomino]

Stop trying so hard. The word with the obvious spelling is the right choice.

captcha: souped

Nah, there are just so many idiots making the "Piracy is killing our bottom line" excuse that we've decided to make them stand in line.

Re:Surprisingly Level Headed Analysis

[Opportunist]

Sure, you might not consider piracy to be that big of a deal, but you'll change your tune when you're sitting around the burnt out husk of your home surrounded by a post-apocalyptic hellscape, stomach rumbling like crazy because you finished off the last of Aunt Sally 3 days ago and the rest of the family was eaten by a roving band of zombie werewolves

You know that the average geek would find that scenario quite cool, if you tried to convince people to stay away from copying, I think this isn't how you should describe it. Maybe say something like "And if you continue copying, you'll soon live with a wife and kids in a suburb and have no time for computers anymore".

That should scare the pants off them!

Re:What a Game!

[rhsanborn]

I'd be willing to seed that game.